The following letter has been signed by 587 Canadian academics, condemning the tactics that “have crossed the line” being employed by the Harper Conservatives in the current federal election campaign. It will appear in newspapers today, but there is no room in print to reproduce all of the signatures. We are including the full list available, and providing the letter for discussion. However, such is their old concept of liberal democracy that the letter of the university academics does not even call on the student youth to take a stand in the election.

We are a diverse group of academics with different political views and different political allegiances. We are united by a common interest in the integrity of democratic processes and a concern about the ugly and dangerous turn we have recently witnessed in the election campaign. In democratic electoral politics there is an ethical line that distinguishes spirited partisan strategy from cynical tactics that betray the values of mutual respect and toleration that lie at the heart of civil democratic discourse. Honourable politicians do not cross that line even when they think doing so will be politically advantageous. Disreputable politicians ignore the line when they find it convenient to do so.

The Conservative Party under Stephen Harper has already come perilously close to this line by suggesting that religion is an appropriate basis to select refugees and by fanning fears of terrorism as a pretext for revoking citizenship from some Canadians. Distinguishing ‘old-stock’ Canadians from new ones was also divisive and problematic. Increasingly, the Conservatives seem to have been opting for a particularly nasty form of “wedge politics”.

However, by injecting the inflammatory rhetoric of ‘barbaric cultural practices’ into the current campaign, the Conservative Party has flagrantly crossed the line. The repeated use of this phrase along with a proposed tip line to root out undesirables are cynically calculated to distract and divide citizens by insinuating that some law abiding and peaceful members of the community are freedom-hating barbarians who threaten Canadian society. The Conservatives know that Canada faces no such threat and that the vast majority of citizens, irrespective of their religious commitments or cultural backgrounds, embrace the basic rights and liberties upon which our democracy is based. By conjuring up a phantom menace to the country and implying that some immigrants and religious minorities are enemies, the Conservatives hope to pit Canadians against one another. Like many sophisticated forms of vicious propaganda, the invocation of barbarism is meant to create fear and anxiety rather than to identify a real problem.

We enjoy the rule of law in Canada and it requires the equal application of the law. Those who break the law should be treated within a common system of criminal justice. A special mechanism that targets some minorities for extra scrutiny is as unnecessary as it is odious. The devious strategists who have devised this campaign know that their objectives are not well served by employing racist or anti-religious epithets, so they ask us to imagine unspecified but supposedly real barbarians. So we are encouraged to demonize those who are different from ourselves and whose religious or cultural practices we do not share or understand. In the present context, this is hate mongering, and it has no place in Canadian democracy.

We do not deny that there is room to discuss and debate how contemporary democracies should respond to religious, cultural and linguistic pluralism. Indeed, Canadian legal and political theory is at the forefront of exploring such matters. But a common point of departure for these debates and discussions is a commitment to civility, decency and toleration. Toleration does not require that one like or endorse the cultural or religious practices of others, but it does require that we refrain from insulting the dignity of those with whom we disagree. The Conservatives have shown contempt for a politics of mutual respect. We condemn the unethical Conservative strategy that brings shame to Canadian politics. We hope that Canadians will join us in repudiating the politics of hate. Instead let us embrace a nobler vision of civil discourse that is truly oriented to achieving the common good for all Canadians.

Signed,

Daniel Weinstock, Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University

Colin Macleod, Professor, Department of Philosophy and Faculty of Law, Victoria University

Jocelyn Maclure, Professeur, Faculté de philosophie, Université Laval

Avigail Eisenberg, Professor, Department of Political Science, Victoria University

and

Adam Sneyd

Associate Professor

Political Science

University of Guelph

Adele Perry

Professor

History

University of Manitoba

Adelle Blackett

Full Professor

Faculty of Law

McGill University

Adriana Benzaquen

Associate Professor

History

Mount Saint Vincent University

Adrienne Sehatzadeh

Instructional Designer

Centre for Learning and Teaching

Dalhousie University

Afua Cooper

Associate Professor

Sociology & Social Anthropology

Dalhousie University

Ailsa Craig

Associate Professor

Sociology

Memorial University

Ailsa M.Watkinson

Professor

Social Work

University of Regina

Ajay Parasram

Doctoral Candidate

Political Science

Carleton University

Alain-G. Gagnon

Professor

Political Science

Université du Québec à Montréal

Alana Klein

Assistant Professor

Faculty of Law

McGill University

Alex Khasnabish

Associate Professor

Sociology & Anthropology

Mount Saint Vincent University

Alexander Dawson

Professor

History

Simon Fraser University

Alexandra Dobrowolsky

Professor

Political Science

Saint Mary’s University

Alistair Macleod

Professor Emeritus

Philosophy

Queen’s University

Allan Greer

Professor

History

McGill University

Allan Manson

Professor

Law

Queen’s University

Allan Moscovitch

Professor

Social Work

Carleton University

Amal Ghazal

Associate Professor

History

Dalhousie University

Amanda Goodman

Assistant Professor

Dept. for the Study of Religion

University of Toronto

Amarnath Amarasingam

SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow

Resilience Research Centre

Dalhousie University

Amy Bell

Associate Professor

History

Huron University College

Amy Bombay

Assistant Professor

Psychiatry

Dalhousie University

Amy Mullin

Professor

Philosophy

University of Toronto

André Magnan

Associate Professor

Sociology and Social Studies

University of Regina

Andreas Motsch

Associate Professor

French

University of Toronto

Andrew Biro

Professor

Politics

Acadia University

Andrew G. Horn

PhD

Department of Biology

Dalhousie University

Andrew M. Wender

Assistant Teaching Professor

Political Science, History, and Religious Studies

University of Victoria

Andrew M. Wender

Assistant Teaching Professor

Departments of Political Science and History, and Religious Studies Program

University of Victoria

Andrew O’Malley

Associate Professor

English

Ryerson University

Andrew Rippin

Professor Emeritus

History

University of Victoria

Angus Taylor

Continuing Sessional Instructor

Philosophy

University of Victoria

Ann McDougall

Professor

History and Classics

University of Alberta

Anna Guttman

Professor

English

Lakehead University

Anna Skorzewska

Assistant Professor

Medicine

University of Toronto

Annalee Lepp

Associate Professor

Women’s Studies

University of Victoria

Annalee Yassi

Professor

School of Population and Public Health

University of British Columbia

Anne Fleming

Associate Professor

Creative Studies

University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus

Anne-Marie D’Aoust

Assistant Professor

Political Science

Université du Québec à Montréal

Anver Emon

Professor and Canada Research Chair in Religion, Pluralism and the Rule of Law